Letters to the Editor: Thursday, January 24, 2013

Chamber Brass concert wonderful… Private guns help to check government

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The Daily Telegram - Adrian, MI

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Posted Jan. 24, 2013 at 9:23 AM
Updated Jan 24, 2013 at 9:25 AM

Posted Jan. 24, 2013 at 9:23 AM
Updated Jan 24, 2013 at 9:25 AM

Chamber Brass concert wonderful

To the editor,

On Sunday, on a cold, blustery day, I was privileged to attend a concert at the beautiful Saint Catherine Chapel at the Adrian Dominican Motherhouse at Siena Heights University.

The concert was presented by the Adrian Chamber Brass. This ensemble was founded in 1972 by a group of six Lenawee County high school band directors. They remained together for the next 35 years. Later, with several changes in personnel and the addition of another member, they became an ensemble of seven. They celebrated their 40th year of performances at an anniversary concert in January of 2012.

This brass ensemble, who give many performances to various groups locally throughout the year, opened their program yesterday with a rousing, delightful number, “Music for Brass No. 3,” written by one of the group’s founding members and long-time Adrian Public School band and choir director, Howard Stukey. Much of the attractiveness of their program is due to the intriguing arrangements done by Dr. Michael Pratt, former band director at Onsted and Sand Creek schools. The passion with which the music was played and the obvious cohesiveness of this close-knit and talented organization made for a wonderful afternoon, enjoyed by many people. Imagine the sound of the encore, “Stars and Stripes Forever,” arranged for seven brass players, complete with the famous piccolo solo played impeccably by three alternating trumpet players who had already played a full concert. It was a delightful ending to a very fine concert.

Adrian and Lenawee County should be very proud of the dedication of this fine brass ensemble, who have taught our children music for years, and now still make it enjoyable for all of us. We say, “Thank you.”

Helene Bleecker

Adrian Township

Private guns help to check government

To the editor,

This letter is in response to Hildreth H. Spencer’s letter Jan. 16 (“Too many worship the Second Amendment”) in The Daily Telegram.

History is a surprisingly ambiguous subject, left to the interpretation of historians, politicians and teachers. Sadly, interpretations are just that, the actions of explaining the meaning of something. Sometimes, they are wrong.

Thomas Jefferson wrote to Stephens Smith in November 1787, “God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion. ... And what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. ... The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

Thomas Jefferson was but one of many great men who collectively became our Founding Fathers. George Mason, an American patriot, father of the Bill of Rights, and hence a Founding Father himself said, “I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials.”

Page 2 of 2 - George Washington said in his Farewell Address in 1796, “Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.” With George Washington’s fear of a future military-industrial complex obscuring the needs of liberty, we, as citizens do not need arms to protect us from the thievery of henchmen, but the thievery of an overzealous government.

It is easily conceivable that the Founding Fathers did not have the foresight to predict the technological advancement of weaponry.

But never could our founders, nor anyone until the last part of the 20th century, have envisioned the continued malicious assault on our First, Fourth and Fifth amendment rights by our government and military establishments. Thanks to the National Defense Authorization Act and FISA Amendments Act, Americans can be detained indefinitely without trial for not committing a crime and have electronic communiqué collected, stored and used against them without a warrant.

It may be too late now; one cannot un-ring a bell.

As the great Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”